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Victoria Gotti
Victoria Gotti (born November 27, 1962) is a writer and reality television personality who is also the daughter of the deceased Gambino crime family Mafia boss, John Gotti. Early life Victoria Gotti was born November 27, 1962 in Brooklyn, New York City. Her father was convicted mob boss and criminal John Gotti and her mother was Victoria DiGiorgio, who is of Russian Jewish ancestry on her own mother's side. Gotti was raised in a modest two-story house in Howard Beach, New York, with her four siblings, which include brother John A. Gotti, sister Angel, and her younger brother Frank, whom she referred to as her "little doll". Gotti was the shyest of her siblings, and was so quiet that for several years her parents suspected their daughter was autistic. Despite claims otherwise, Gotti says her family lived a sheltered, lower middle-class life with old-fashioned family values. Her mother made all of the children's clothes, and cut the girls' hair. Gotti's childhood was marked by frequent absences on the part of her father, due to the time he spent in prison. Her mother told the family that their father was away on business as a plumbing supplier, helping to build a prison facility. Gotti has commented on her childhood relationship with her father by saying, "I was raised to believe...none of what you hear, and only half of what you see." While in high school, she was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse, a condition that makes the heart race, causing dizziness and palpitations. Her condition required her to watch her health carefully, take regular medication, and occasionally wear a heart monitor. As a teenager, Gotti's father was a very strict enforcer of curfews and was insistent on screening her daughter's suitors. As an avid reader and devoted straight-A student, she skipped two grades in high school, entering St. Johns University in 1977, at the age of 15. In March 1980, Gotti's 12-year-old brother, Frank, was hit by a car driven by a neighbor, John Favara, after he steered his motorbike into traffic. The accident devastated Gotti. Her mother reportedly bludgeoned Favara with a baseball bat, hospitalizing him. Four months later, Favara was abducted and never seen again. Gotti says she knows nothing of the incident, or her family's relation to Favara's disappearance. In the aftermath of her loss, Gotti was determined to finish college and pursue a law degree, but dropped out when she decided she was "too shy" to become a lawyer. In 1984, shortly after leaving school, she married her high school sweetheart and "first real boyfriend," scrap-metal dealer, Carmine Agnello, from whom she bore three sons, Carmine, Frank and John, and a daughter, Justine, who was stillborn. Career Writing Victoria Gotti was a columnist at the New York Post and a reporter for WNYW, the New York City flagship station of the Fox Television Network. In 1995, Gotti wrote her first book, Women and Mitral Valve Prolapse, which was inspired by and documented her own struggle with the illness. The book's relatable treatment of the topic met with critical success on the part of patients and doctors alike, and led to her career in fiction writing. In 1997, she published her mystery novel The Senator's Daughter, to positive reviews. Her subsequent books include I'll Be Watching You (1998), Superstar (2000), Hot Italian Dish (2006), and This Family of Mine: What It Was Like Growing Up Gotti (2009). Television From August 2004 until December 2005, Gotti was the star of Growing Up Gotti, an American reality television series on the A&E Network, on which she starred with her three sons. In August 2005, days before the third season premiere of Growing Up Gotti, Gotti stated that she had breast cancer. However, after being accused of faking her illness by various media outlets, she admitted soon after her initial announcement that she did have precancerous cells present in her breast, rather than an actual diagnosis. In early 2012, Gotti appeared as one of 18 contestants on the American reality television series Celebrity Apprentice, which premiered on February 19. Gotti was eliminated in week 2 of the competition. On September 22, 2013, Gotti made a guest appearance on The Real Housewives of New Jersey alongside cast member Teresa Giudice, appearing in the season 5 episode "Hair We Go Again". She appeared on the show again in the season 6 episode "Roses Are Red, Dina Is Blue", which premiered on August 24, 2014. In December 2014 Gotti made a guest appearance in "Storm A-Brewin'", a fifth season episode of the VH1 reality show Mob Wives. Despite having criticized the authenticity of that show in a 2012 radio interview, in which she characterized it as a "train wreck" and "not real",16 Gotti appeared in the episode for a scene in which cast member Angela Raiola seeks her advice on how to resolve her conflicts with her inner circle. Personal life As of May 2009, foreclosure was approved on the $3.2 million mansion that Gotti was awarded as part of her divorce from her husband, Carmine Agnello.Category:John Gotti